Unlike many other wars the United States has fought, the war in Vietnam was limited by political borders. Official U.S. policy prohibited American soldiers and aircraft from fighting in or pursuing the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army into Laos or Cambodia, two countries that bordered Vietnam on the west. The Viet Cong and the NVA took full advantage of this policy by building their supply route to the south, named the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in Laos and Cambodia. The VC also established many command posts in these two countries, crossing over the border to attack the Americans and then returning to safety.

Despite the policy prohibiting U.S. attacks on VC and NVA in Laos and Cambodia, many American soldiers and pilots inadvertently or deliberately strayed across the border. In the following reading, John B. Morgan, who served two...